Oscillococcinum is one of the most sold homeopathic remedies in the world. The French Boiron earned 455 million euros in 2021. It would help against the flu, but it’s pure deception.
“The drug is made by mixing 35 grams of duck liver and 15 grams of the heart with glucose and some water and juice from the pancreas,” says Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst at HLN. “That brew is left to stand for 40 days. Then the juice is dissolved in a ratio of 1 to 1 with four hundred zeros, you heard that right. With one duck, Boiron has enough for the entire world production for decades, just calculate the profit. The solution is so diluted that not a single particle of duck remains in the final product. The remedy is no more than sugar globules to which they add some water.”
The funny thing is that Boirin’s spokesperson confirms the deception himself: “It is true that the active ingredient of oscillococcinum cannot be detected with the current measuring devices because it is so highly diluted.” But fortunately, the patients are still happy with the placebo. According to our figures, 94 percent of patients are satisfied.”
And yes, this placebo also applies: if it doesn’t help, it won’t hurt, but that’s a nonsensical argument. A large multinational makes hundreds of millions off the backs of gullible people. It is deception and deceit.
On the website, Boiron writes, for example, that Oscillococcinum shortens the duration of the flu and helps against complaints such as fever and headache. There isn’t any evidence for that. In fact, there isn’t really a cure for the flu, other than just getting sick. And yet people pay almost 30 euros for 30 pills.